Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Protector in Pink

Johur Baru, Johor, Malaysia, November 1997

The man observed that the shopping
centre was abuzz with excitement over the Saturday event that has drawn several
children and their families from across the city and neighboring towns. And no
wonder. The main stage in the promenade, normally reserved for local musical
performances, was under attack by two alien mutant monsters from outer space –
each almost a towering two metres tall! One appeared to be half-man, half turtle;
the other half-man, half lobster. While both monsters looked utterly grotesque,
the bright colors of their foam rubber bodies made them appear not too scary
for the youngest of the younger crowd.

Fortunately, the monsters’ evil
scheme to destroy the weekend afternoon commerce was about to be thwarted by
flashes of red, blue, black, pink, and yellow that leapt, cartwheeled, and
somersaulted onto the stage. The speeding arrivals surrounded the monsters, each
pausing in a fighting stance so the cheering crowd of over two hundred
onlookers can have a good look at the brightly colored spandex-and-lyrca
outfits of the six fully masked super sentai heroes that most of the kids had instantly
recognized as the Power Rangers.

However, the quintet was not the actual
Power Rangers from the television programme or the fairly recent movie. In
fact, those with a keen eye can see that the uniforms, while in the correct
colors, were not quite the same as their on-screen counterparts. The diamond
motif had been replaced with ovals, and the dinosaur patterns of the helmets
appeared to be more bug-like.

That was because the five heroes and
two monsters on stage were not officially licensed Power Ranger or Zyuranger
performers like the ones that toured in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore a few years
ago. They were actually the Sentai Seven, a quasi-professional performing
troupe comprised of seven very talented martial artists and acrobats from
Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia who presented live Power-Ranger-like shows
at local events throughout Southeast Asia – usually to draw in customers to drum
up local business, which they no doubt were doing for the shops and eateries in
that J.B. shopping centre that day.

(Now that I had made clear the fact of who these heroes are
not, please note that, to allow for ease of writing, this post will continue to
refer to these performers as “Rangers” since that was who they were supposed to
represent.Please keep in mind that at
this particular event, or at any other Sentai Seven show, they could not
officially – nor legally – be referred to as such.)

This had actually been the first
time the Sentai Seven (referred only as “your kids’ favorite heroes” during the
show and in the event adverts) had performed in Malaysia in a number of years. The
troupe was quite popular when the “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” programme had
taken the country (as it did the world) by storm on Radio Television Malaysia (RTM)
2. That was before a few parents and government officials were concerned that
the show would have a negative influence on children because the word
“Morphin’” in the title sounded like “morphine”– and that would somehow
encourage impressionable young minds to want to abuse drugs. So the programme was
banned from Malaysia for a time, and the troupe decided to perform in other
countries at that point.

That meant the children had to get
their Super Sentai fix either by watching the Japanese programme, “Choushinsei Flashman,” dubbed in Malay on RTM1, or settling for the (thankfully)
short-lived chintzy American knockoff television series, “Tattooed Teenage Alien
Fighters from Beverly Hills,” on Metrovision 8.

The ban did not last too long, however.
Eventually, the movie based on the “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” series was
allowed to be screened in local theatres with the shortened title, “Power
Rangers: The Movie.” The television programme was soon allowed back on the air
when it followed the same naming convention. And now that the show had
returned, so too had the Sentai Seven.

The man was at the shopping center event,
of course, enjoying an exclusive vantage point of the show. He was paying
particular attention on the movements of the performer who portrayed the
doppelgänger of the Yellow Ranger Trini – and with good reason.

(No, not that reason).

Since the man worked for the
advertising agency that served the property management company for the shopping
centre, and was good friends with the centre’s event organizer, he was able to meet the troupe performers and watch them practice their routine (both
in costume and in athletic sweatsuits) earlier that week. He remembered the
horrible moment when he saw the sweet young woman who was the Yellow Ranger of
the troupe accidentally fall against the edge of a raised platform during
practice and tear her clavicle loose, just three days before the show.

The remaining “Sentai Six” were scrambling
to figure out how to best restructure the choreography with one less performer,
when the event organizer had a suggestion for a potential fill-in. A few calls
were made, and the candidate was auditioning at the troupe’s practice area
later that afternoon. The candidate had promising skills, but admitted to having
not practiced in several months, and was thus “a bit rusty.” However, the
candidate would work as a viable stand-in with only a few minor cuts to the
choreography, limiting the new Yellow Ranger’s routine to martial arts only and
no acrobatics beyond breakfalls. Further, the man, a Yondan in Aikido, was
willing to work long hours with the troupe in order to train the candidate to be
ready for the show in time.

In addition to lacking some
acrobatic skill, the candidate was also not quite as… built as the original performer,
but that was easily fixed with a bit of strategically placed padding.

On the shopping center stage, the
entire Ranger team pretended to be knocked backward by a broad sweep of the
Turtle-Man’s arm, eliciting first a collective gasp of shock from the kids in
the crowd – and then a communal cheer as the Rangers all used rolling
breakfalls to immediately right themselves back on their feet, ready to resume the
fight.

The man silently winced as he
noticed the Yellow Ranger tip slightly after standing from the ushiro ukemi. Despite
his and the troupe’s best efforts during the long two days of the stand-in’s intensive
training and practice, the padding still threw the new performer’s balance off
a touch. This was soon further evidenced by the Yellow Ranger’s roundhouse kick,
aimed to intentionally miss the side of the Turtle Man’s face, accidentally
connecting with his right shoulder, actually knocking him to the padded stage
floor.

The Yellow Ranger immediately pulled
the opponent up to a standing position by the scruff of the foam rubber turtle
shell. Before the audience could register what the man knew was a brief check
that the fallen actor was unhurt, the yellow-clad performer mimed an overelaborate
bowling throw as the Turtle Man somersaulted off-stage in simulated defeat.

Aside from that small hiccup, which was
very likely perceived by the crowd as a normal part of the act, the performance
went swimmingly. In fact, the final act of all five Rangers vanquishing the
threat of the Lobster-man, which climaxed with the monster disappearing from
the stage (a magician technique using flash powder, a smoke machine, and the aforementioned
raised platform with a built-in trap door), was well-received by the applauding
audience.

Shortly after the performance, there
was a “meet and greet” session that was originally supposed to have the kids
line up to shake the hands of each of the “Rangers” in succession as they moved
across the stage, but it quickly reverted to a disorderly mob of kids and
adults flocking around the troupe to shake hands and take pictures of the team
of masked heroes.

One person among the crowd behind
the heroes had a different reason for being on the stage.

As soon as the man realized what was
happening, the rest of the crowd was suddenly made aware via the sound of a loud
male scream. They all then saw the Pink Ranger twisting the right hand of a
surprised 30-something-year-old Indian male, as she forced him backward through
the quickly parting crowd, and roughly shoved him against a nearby pillar at
the back of the stage. The Yellow Ranger followed closely behind.

The greasy-haired, lightly mustached male was clearly three times the weight of the Pink Ranger, and even though that extra
mass can be considered more flab than muscle, he could have easily knocked down
the Pink Ranger with a little leverage. The only thing that was preventing the
male from doing so was the pain of his hand bones, which the man could see were
straining toward the point of dislocation in the Pink Ranger’s gloved grasp.

The Malay security guard assigned to
accompany the troupe quickly approached the two Rangers and inquired what was going
on. Before they could respond, a young boy at the front of the crowd pointed to
the Yellow Ranger and said in Malay, “He grabbed her backside. He grabbed her
backside."

The yellow-clad stand-in did not
understand Malay, but soon nodded in agreement when the guard asked in English to
confirm what the Indian man did.

Two additional shopping centre security
guards, altered by the Indian’s scream, soon arrived and escorted the molester
off the premises, but not until they had first spent several minutes attempting
to convince the two Rangers that the incident was most likely “a simple
misunderstanding.” When that did not work, the guards assured the Rangers that
they will bar him from the property and that there was no need to waste time
filing a police report.

The man gave a scornful look to both
the departing pervert and his security guard escorts. He knew from experience
that filing a police report would indeed be a waste of time…

Later, the man joined the troupe in a reserved private area
behind the shopping center offices that included changing rooms.

The Yellow Ranger turned to the pink counterpart and
whispered, “Thank you again for dealing with that… molester…”

The Pink Ranger removed her helmet, and the attractive,
mid-30s Singaporean-Chinese performer underneath gave her yellow counterpart a wide
smile. ”No problem,” she said, arching an eyebrow. “After all, we girls have to
stick together, right?”

The Yellow Ranger stiffened slightly at the question before
removing the helmet of the uniform, revealing the perspiring face of Xum
Yukinori.

“Indeed,” the man in the padded yellow uniform smiled back. He
handed the pink heroine a towel and a bottle of water from the stock provided
for the troupe on a small side table. He hesitantly asked, “Does that… sort of
thing… happen to you often?”

The Pink Ranger performer pushed back the bangs of her short-cropped
dark hair so she could dab her sweaty forehead lightly with the towel. “More
often than you’d think,” she said with a bit of sadness, draping the towel over
her shoulder. She then cracked another smile as she cracked open the water
bottle. “The price for having a great backside, I suppose. But that doesn’t mean
we have to agree to pay.”

The man nodded. He was still very disappointed that the molester
was essentially led out with only a warning from the guards. But he did have
some satisfaction that his pink-clad protector had brought that pervert’s sneaky actions out into the open. Perhaps
the public humiliation, from both being discovered and the physical retaliation,
will make that person reconsider ever trying to touch a woman improperly again.

Perhaps.

The rest of the troupe had already gone into the male
dressing room. The man decided to wait a few moments before following suit. All
of the male performers had at one time or another made cat-calls at the man in
jest when he first put on the chest padding and the yellow uniform. And now
through the dressing room door he can hear them all having a good laugh about
him being so “sexy” that some casual pervert actually groped him.

The Pink Ranger could hear them too. “They are such boys…”
she remarked.

A realization struck the man. He gestured toward the gents’
changing room. “Um, they don’t treat
you like…”

The Singaporean woman shook her head. “Oh, no. The may be
boys, but they are good boys. They just like to make fun at you putting on
boobs.” She paused, and her playful voice now had a serious tone. “But they are
all very glad that you did so to fill in for Phaik-Seng… as am I. So thank you,
Xum.”

“It was my pleasure. I hope Phaik-Seng has a successful
recovery.”

The woman in pink nodded, then turned toward the female
dressing room. “You can change in here, if you wish,” she offered. “After I am
done, of course.”

“Thank you, but the gents’ will be fine,” the man replied. “I’ve
faced worse than ‘those boys’…”

The woman turned to face the man. “I know,” she said flatly.
“I saw those marks on you during practice.”

There was a long pause, and the man hoped the performer in
pink would not ask about the circumstances behind the few but noticeable scars on his body, which his loose practice shirt apparently did
not conceal. Fortunately, his silent wish was granted.

The woman finally spoke. “Well, you watch your backside, Xum.
You will not always have someone else watching it for you.” She then disappeared
behind the female dressing room door.

It would be hours after the man had changed and said a final
goodbye to the Sentai Seven, while enjoying an after-supper Kopi O Peng at a
hawker stall near his hotel, that he would realize there may had been a deeper
meaning to the Pink Ranger’s words. He briefly wondered if the reason she caught
the molester’s action was because she was already looking at his backside...

And then, just as quickly, the man pushed that
ridiculous thought out of his head.

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About Me

Former adman. Currently a marketing consultant for cellular technology and health care service industries. Former manhua background/crowd-control artist. Artist for "The Line It Is Drawn." Former resident of 12 countries. Current resident of California. Finally returned from Kokubunji, Tokyo, Japan.